The New ‘Point Break’ Trailer Pushes Remake Culture to the Breaking Point

The world wasn’t exactly crying out for a remake of Point Break, but here we are. We didn’t ask for a modern take on Kathryn Bigelow’s 1991 action classic, but maybe we did something to deserve it.

The basic set-up is the same as the original – an undercover FBI agent infiltrates a gang of criminals who use their ill-gotten gains to finance their dangerous hobbies. In the original film, that was surfing (supplying the movie with its title). In the remake, it’s surfing and flying in wing-suits and outrunning avalanches on dirtbikes because it’s 2015 and this is the age of Red Bull and look at how extreme everything is, bro!

Although the original remains an entertaining action romp, its real appeal relies on the totally honest bromance between Keanu Reeves’ Johnny Utah and Patrick Swayze’s Bodhi. We don’t want to judge a movie we haven’t seen, but it’s hard to imagine Luke Bracey and Edgar Ramirez capturing that same sense of totally-platonic-we’re-just-bros-really love that defines the original. Bigelow’s feminine touch transformed what should have been a rote action movie into a clever examination of masculinity.

It’s telling that we can’t stop talking about the original movie in a post about the remake. The actors look bored. The twist that Bodhi’s gang are Robin Hood types is eye-rolling. The CGI-enhanced stunts don’t hold a candle to the practical set pieces from the original movie. Heck, put every action shot in this trailer next to Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation and Mad Max: Fury Road and it starts to look like an antique.

Point Break is directed by Ericson Core and it surfs/parachutes/wing-suits into theaters on December 25.